Parents plea for Edgewood to reconsider AHSAA no vote

Edgewood pitcher Chase Laney (23) and teammates celebrate winning a 2014 AISA championship at Paterson Field. The Wildcats have 15 AISA titles in all sports over the last seven years and are the association's preeminent power in baseball and football.(Photo: AMANDA SOWARDS/ADVERTISER)Buy Photo

ELMORE — A plea from parents and boosters that included a petition couldn’t revive Edgewood’s potential move to the Alabama High School Athletic Association.—

A three-person group asked Edgewood’s board of trustees Wednesday night to reconsider its recent vote to remain in the Alabama Independent School Association.

Another 15-20 parents and boosters — plus a reporter — remained outside the closed-door meeting. The board only allowed those listed on the agenda to enter.

They were allotted 10 minutes.

“We felt it was very important for them to know we were disappointed,” said Pam Sullivan, who led the presentation and was joined by John Sullivan and Chad Ceman.

“We tried our best to voice our concerns over this issue to the board.”

The group supports the school applying for membership in the higher-profile AHSAA.

Edgewood’s board voted 8-5 in August not to pursue an AHSAA invitation.

The AHSAA, in October, will start its biennial reclassification that is due to be announced in January, but Edgewood’s effort — this year — is dead, principal Clint Welch said.

“It’s been voted on and it can possibly come up again in the following reclassification, which would be two years from now,” Welch said. “We’re going to try to continue to educate our folks and hopefully bring it back up and see what happens.”

Welch and athletic director Bobby Carr had supported seeking AHSAA membership. Neither has a vote on the board. Carr, who did not attend, is also the school’s football and baseball coach.

Edgewood football has won five straight AISA championships and carries a 63-game winning streak into Friday’s home game with Lakeside.

Edgewood baseball is a seven-time reigning AISA champion.

Its softball team won in 2014 and its volleyball last won a title in 2011. Boys basketball was a runner-up last season. Girls basketball has made the state quarterfinals twice in the last three years.

“The problem I have is when they don’t support the athletic director, who is doing what he thinks is best for our children,” said parent Wendy Blevins, who waited outside the meeting.

“At the end of the day, how do you not support your staff?”

The parents distributed a list of Edgewood’s board members and how each voted in August. They also provided a copy of a 17-page report produced by the board’s athletic committee that analyzed a potential move.

The report’s data, Pam Sullivan said, overwhelmingly supported making the move. With its current enrollment, Edgewood would be a Class 1A school in the AHSAA.

“By reading the report, we felt the board would make its decision based on what the committee found,” Sullivan said. “From reading the report, it’s a no-brainer that we should go to the Alabama High School Athletic Association.”

The report was available at the school to parents this summer and, because of its findings, Sullivan said she did not get fully involved before the August vote.

Also, with Welch and Carr endorsing a move, Sullivan said she was confident the board would support it.

“Absolutely,” Sullivan said. “We trust our kids to these people on a daily basis.